The Politics Thread

[Juliajms]

What a shame.

Please register in order to view this content

I can't believe this is real life.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Juliajms

[Vee]

Chapek is on the ropes:

 

[janea4old]

 

[DramatistDreamer]

[Juliajms]

So many of our leaders are an embarrassment to the nation. I can't watch these hearings live or I will lose my mind. Well, at least my voice from screaming at the screen. I love that her answer is so basic. She explains it to him like he's two.

 

[Vee]

 

It's outrageous. tbh I am tuning their crap out and just waiting for the eleventh hour when Manchin swans in to some press gaggle complaining about Jackson based on stuff he saw on Fox News. It is clear based on recent hijinks and rationales that he is among their devoted racist senior demographic.

[DRW50]

With transphobic laws on the books, Roe probably gone soon, and birth control and gay marriage next, I'm not surprised the GOP are  looking for the next rallying cry. He half-heartedly walked some of this back after making sure the trial balloon was floated. I saw various out of touch "we need to run ads on this because  it will hurt Republicans, why aren't we smart like Republicans," type tweets going around. With the help of the media, the GOP could make this a prize wedge issue again in no time at all. 

Judge Brown has been very courteous in the face of extremely ugly attacks. I too am expecting Manchin  to ultimately oppose and derail her nomination, especially as it is a sure way to get media attention. We'll see, I guess.

[Vee]

I don't think he will derail the nomination, but nothing would shock me anymore. I do expect him to try to get attention over it.

[Khan]

As the product of what I consider to have been an interracial marriage - my mother is half-Black, half-Muscogee (Creek) Indian; my father was half-Indian, half-Chinese - I find Sen. Braun's comments to be appalling, and terrifying.

[I Am A Swede]

Please register in order to view this content

Is this idiot for real??!!  

Does he know that this is 2022, not 1722??

[FrenchBug82]

So in a week we have a Republican Senator raging against Obergefell (same-sex marriage). One hoping Griswold (right to contraception) goes away. And now this with interracial marriage.

At some point people should start taking Republicans at face value. They are not *hiding* it. They won't stop with Roe, which is going to be horrible enough.

At a minimum Democrats really should stop clinging to the rhetoric of SCOTUS as some kind of impartial arbitrer. It is a highly political institution that is implementing an extreme political agenda as the supposedly non-political proxy of conservative Republicans who know their agenda is unpopular if proposed directly to the people.
And continuing to enable a veneer of respectability to the rogue actions of these political agents, before we even get to how illegitimate the current conservative majority on SCOTUS is, is effectively giving them leeway to do what they want without repercussions.

The fact ordinary Democratic voters who don't follow politics closely rre still giving high marks to the SCOTUS in poll after poll is a galling failure.

[I Am A Swede]

 

Please register in order to view this content

[DRW50]

The problem is that most of the voters who show  up to vote, and whose votes aren't being repressed, aren't going to care that much about most of these issues. Many of the voters who are now being curated as the  only voters have  no real objection to extreme abortion bans, the end of birth  control, interracial marriage, or gay marriage. They are about to die, extremely conservative, rich and know they won't be affected, or all three. I saw a viral tweet bragging about how interracial marriage is "a fight we can win." That this is already being framed as a fight - a fight that a media that would sell their entire family to be able to bathe Trump's feet would absolutely love to dive into - shows you which side has  "won." It would also likely be used as a wedge issue, gleefully, as many non-white voters also oppose interracial  marriage for various reasons.

Some who might be concerned are still swayed to media coverage that downplays all of these concerns. CNN, for example,  ran a huge headline about Cruz grilling Brown on CRT. The ugly smears against her and the callous way she was spoken to don't matter to them. Secretly, I imagine many of them get a kick out of seeing her degraded.

I think a number of Democrats do know how out of control SCOTUS is, but there are no solutions in place to deal with it. The real solutions were if those we were so often told were wiser and able to get through, like RBG, had retired at the proper political time.  

Edited March 23, 2022 by DRW50

[Khan]

You know, I STILL wonder why Breyer has changed his mind about retiring, especially when his retirement will not have any impact on SCOTUS' current ideological makeup.

[FrenchBug82]

I think he is smart enough to know the case for locking in that seat was very strong and important.

His refusal to do it earlier feels more like an ego-driven knee-jerk reluctance to be seen as bowing to political pressure.